Tributes flow for Jim Bacon

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Jim Bacon, the bold young Melbourne left-winger who grew up to reshape Tasmania as Labor premier, yesterday lost a fierce struggle with lung cancer.

His death at 54 came just four months after diagnosis of the smoking-induced illness forced Mr Bacon to quit politics at the height of his success. The speed with which he was claimed by cancer shocked his family and the community.

Only 10 days ago Mr Bacon said in an open letter that his treatment had been difficult but the results heartening and he was recovering at home.

"As I predicted at the time of my resignation as premier, it has been a ferocious battle," he said.

His clearly bereaved but composed wife of nine years, Honey, spoke briefly yesterday to thank his carers and explain his death.

"He had a very aggressive form of cancer that reacted very well to the first round of treatment, even though it was horrific," she said.

"Unfortunately the cancer was so strong that when his immune system was low it kind of got in there and we only found out on Wednesday that it had spread to the extent it had."

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Mrs Bacon said "he loved Tasmania as much as he loved me".

His sister, the journalist Wendy Bacon, said he had rallied on Friday and watched his last game of AFL on the television. He died in Hobart's Calvary Hospital, with his family around him, at 2am yesterday.

"Since Thursday evening Jim has been at peace with the situation," Ms Bacon said. "He certainly died peacefully and not in any pain."

After making his diagnosis public, Mr Bacon drew attention to his cancer being caused by smoking.

When he announced he was ill, he described himself as an idiot for smoking for 35 years, and implored others to give up. "The message from me to everyone is please don't be a fool like me, don't keep smoking, try and give it up and if you are young and you haven't started, don't start," he said.

He is widely mourned. The son of a Melbourne general practitioner who died when Mr Bacon was 12, he first embraced politics as a militant Maoist at Monash University in the 1960s. He clashed with university authorities in Vietnam War protests and joined the Builders' Labourers Federation.

Moving through the BLF to Hobart, his talents led the Labor Party to clear a path to the state parliamentary leadership.

Wendy Bacon said that Mr Bacon had never backed away from his radical past.

"But I think at a certain point he moved away from ideological politics to a more pragmatic form."

When he became premier in August 1998, Tasmania's government was debt-ridden, the state's population was shrinking and the community divided.

His reconstruction helped turn the economy around, drew Tasmanians towards consensus with grassroots consultation and was marked by audacious decisions, including the purchase of a fleet of passenger ferries that symbolically ended Tasmania's isolation and the appointment of diplomat Richard Butler as Governor.

He introduced a brand for the state, which now has a rising population - New Tasmania.

Mr Bacon's successor and close friend, Paul Lennon, said that history would judge Mr Bacon an outstanding premier even though he had had only 5 years in the job. "In that time the face and the social fabric of Tasmania has been changed forever," he said.

"His leadership and his vision were for a new Tasmania - a Tasmania more confident, more tolerant, more progressive and stronger. This is his legacy to the people of Tasmania.

"In just a handful of years as premier, Jim achieved the enormous task of making us feel different about ourselves and about our future.

"Characteristically, in publicly announcing that he had inoperable cancer, Jim was courageous and positive and his attitude was inspirational.

"His focus was on making the absolute most of the time he had left, to catch up with the pleasures he had neglected and sacrificed to carry out his public responsibilities.

"Jim Bacon died as he lived, with courage and determination."

Prime Minister John Howard described Mr Bacon as a powerful advocate for the interests of his state who had fought cancer courageously.

Opposition Leader Mark Latham said it was a sad day for the Labor movement and all Tasmanians.

Mr Bacon is survived by Honey, his sons Mark and Scott from an earlier marriage, and Honey's son Shane.